It’s time to play the SPIN GAME, which is an opportunity to reflect upon Canada’s performance at the 2008 Beijing Olympics. So, was the Canadian glass at the Games half full or half empty? Well, that depends on your point of view.

 

 

 

Here are 10 of Canada’s results with two possible “spins”:

 

 

Positive: Canada finished with 18 medals, six more than Athens in 2004.

Negative: That’s still 4 behind the Atlanta 1996 games, and well back of most industrialized and economic powers.

 

Positive: With 3 gold, 9 silver and 6 bronze, Canada tied for 14th place in overall medals.

Negative: Countries such as Romania, Ethiopia and Belarus, hardly world giants, all received more gold medals.

 

Positive: Eric Lamaze of Schomberg, Ont., aboard Hickstead, won Canada’s first-ever individual equestrian gold by capturing the show jumping title.

Negative: The 40-year-old enjoyed “clean runs” to win. Too bad drug suspensions caused him to miss the 1996 Olympics in Atlanta and the 2000 Games in Sydney. The Canadian Olympic Committee didn’t allow Lamaze to compete in Sydney; this puts in question the COC decision to allow the former cocaine user to participate at other Olympics.

 

Positive: 61-year-old Ian Millar of Perth, Ontario helped Canada to a silver in team show jumping.

Negative: It certainly took him long enough; achieving his first medal in nine Olympics.

 

Positive: Kayacker, Adam van Koeverden of Oakville, Ontario won a silver medal in the K-1
500 meters.

Negative: Van Koeverden placed 8th in the K-1 1000 meters, thus failing to meet expectations of gold in the 500 and bronze in the 1,000, which he captured in Athens.

 

Positive: Victoria’s Simon Whitfield overcame a 4th place standing with roughly a 100 meters remaining to take the lead in the men’s triathlon.

Negative: Instead of winning gold like the 2000 Games in Sydney, Whitfield settled for silver as he was passed by Germany's Jan Frodeno with just 40 meters left.

 

Positive: 19-year-old Ryan Cochrane of Victoria won a bronze in the 1,500-metre freestyle.

Negative: It’s just Canada’s first Olympic swimming medal since 2000. Alex Baumann where are you?

 

Positive: Priscilla Lopes-Schliep of Whitby, Ontario captured a bronze in the women's 100-metre hurdles.

Negative: This was only Canada’s first track medal since the 1996 Olympics. Yes, the memory of Donovan Bailey’s performance (gold in the 100 meters) lives on.

 

 

Positive: Three athletes from Kamloops, track star Gary Reed in the Men’s 800 meters, mountain-biker Catharine-Pendrel in Women’s cross country and Dylan Armstrong, shot put, all placed a strong 4th in their respective events.

Negative: Kamloops goes 0 for 3 on the podium.

 

Positive: The Canadian Women’s Softball team finished 4th for its best ever Olympic performance.

Negative: Overall, the Canadian team compiled a 3-5 record which is hardly impressive.

 

So, the choice is yours. I know that my glass is half-full with no “whine” whatsoever. I’ll drink to that!

 

 

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So, who earned the title of THE OLYMPIAN? Is it American Swimmer Michael Phelps, with his record 8 gold medals in 8 races? How about sprinter Usain Bolt, (who IOC President Jacques Rogge had the audacity to criticize for excessive celebration) and his 3 gold medals in 3 races?

 

It is hard to argue against Phelps, who deserves all the poster boy cereal boxes accolades. However, one can argue that the 22-year-old Jamaican, who set world records in each of his races, blowing away the competition, becoming the world’s fastest man, deserves special status.

 

Phelps set 7 World records, not 8 and did not win some of his races in a convincing manner. This may seem like nitpicking, but when there is so little to choose between these two athletes, every inch counts.

 

 

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I am not suggesting that Karen Cockburn was a bad choice to carry the Canadian flag into the closing Ceremonies, but I believe that Carol Huynh might have been a better choice.

 

Both these athletes are likeable 27 year-olds who competed in non high profile sports. Cockburn,
who performs her trade on the trampoline, has won medals in three consecutive Olympics, but not one gold. 

 

Huynh, a freestyle wrestler, won the women’s 48-kilogram division, just one of three Canadian gold medalists.

 

Cockburn is from Toronto and Huynh from the village of Hazelton, BC. You don’t think……Nah I’m not going there………….

 

 

 

 

Comic Pedro Bartes  

 

“NBC's Olympic coverage is so delayed on the West Coast that by the time it is seen the Chinese gymnasts are actually 16 years old.”

 

Mike Giachino to the Los Angeles Times

“The good news is American Idol is adding a fourth judge. The bad news is it's a judge from the Beijing Olympics.”
Vancouver comic Torben Rolfsen (www.theprovince.com/liveat5)
 

“While watching Canadian woman, Emilie Heymans, win the silver medal in platform diving, we all heard the commentators marvel at how little splash the Chinese girls made on their dives. Of course, the first step - start out being about 50 pounds.”

Contributor Janice Hough of Palo Alto, California (www.leftcoastsportsbabe.com)

 

“Well, now we know in the opening ceremony why no members of the US Olympic relay teams were asked to carry the flag.”

Janice Hough

“Both the men’s' and the women’s' 4 X 100 relay teams dropped the batons. Who coached the handoffs, Tony Romo?”
Contributor Bill Littlejohn of South Lake Tahoe, California

“Charles Barkley's upcoming colonoscopy might be televised. The Neilsens will have it at the bottom of the ratings. The sponsors are rumored to be Roto Rooter and Dunkin' Donuts.”

Bill Littlejohn, who underwent a colonoscopy on Monday.

 

 

“With a new Canadian porn channel coming to TV Saturday will soon be Hooker Night in Canada.”
Contributor Derek Wilken of Calgary (http://smacksport.blogspot.com/)

 

Derek Wilken

Comedy writer Jim Barach of WCHS-TV in Charleston, W.Va (http://jokesbyjim.blogspot.com/)